1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an armoire with an interior desk surface and, more particularly, to an armoire having an interior desk surface which can store a conventional chair within the interior of the armoire, thereby providing a completely storable office.
2. Prior Art
There is a need for hideable or storable desktop surfaces. This is particularly true in the home environment where space limitations may not allow an entire room to be dedicated to office use. The wide use of computers adds another design constraint to any desktop storing system. Furthermore, a desktop hiding or storing system which does not account for the associated chair in the stored position has been found to be unsatisfactory. A remaining, detached office chair often is a cumbersome, awkward object which significantly detracts from any benefit of the hidden or stored desktop.
A wide variety of furniture cabinets have been developed which open, fold out or reassemble to provide flat tabletop surfaces with associated chairs. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,614,018 to Engel; 2,665,963 to Wallack and 2,963,332 to Breuning are illustrative of the variety of designs that have been developed to create a storable desktop working surface. These patents also illustrate the various disadvantages of the prior art systems. In some prior art systems, such as in the Wallack patent, the tabletop surface is not hidden and remains in view when transformed from a table or desk into a standing cabinet. With other designs, the tabletop surface must be cleared, such as the tabletop of the Breuning or Engel patent designs, before being placed back into the stored or closed position. Clearing the tabletop surface when moving the tabletop into the stored position is a severe drawback when the tabletop is utilized as a desk. Additionally, all of these patents require the use of a specialized chair in connection with the tabletop surface representing another limitation of these prior art systems.
It is an object of the present invention to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks of the prior art. It is an object of the present invention to provide a compact, completely hideable office. It is a further object of the present invention to provide an armoire which can provide a hidden desktop surface and further allows for hiding an associated conventional chair within the armoire interior when the desk is in the stored or retracted position. A further object of the present invention is to provide an attractive armoire design with an effective desk which is easily manufactured and easily adaptable to specific user requirements.